Good afternoon to you – a bunch of big Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) basketball games today.
I’ve had a chance to think about the impact of prior professional basketball players and their affect on college basketball. Here’s the short of it:
@TalkinACCSports Forgive any typos – I’ve had some time to think about this – is this a blog post? @MattZemek pic.twitter.com/GcZh4SyOHi
— AllSportsDACC 🇵🇱🇺🇦 allsportsdacc bsky social (@AllSportsDACC) January 31, 2026
So, the short of it is – even if you are drafted by the NHL (I love hockey, FWIW), there is no real guarantee that the player could really ever sign a contract – but the NHL team does own the rights to the player for a limited time span. But once drafted by the NHL and contract signed – even if they are in the AAA affiliate – they can’t go back to college. The NBA has a few entry points – they can get drafted in the regular NBA draft and sign a professional contract – sign as a free agent as a professional contract – or sign as a professional contract through the NBA G League. In any event here, you sign a professional contract with the NBA for your career with that team. Once you go that route – signing an NBA professional contract – you should 100% not have the option to return to college. One cannot say that those players in the hockey junior leagues are pros – because they are are unpaid volunteers. And once drafted in the NHL (and play at their single A, double AA, or triple AAA organizations – or the NHL) – and sign a contract, you can’t return to college.
The NCAA needs to end the madness of permitting players who sign professional contracts with the NBA or the NBA G-League – their governing body must get this through.
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